NORMANITE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Randy Laffoon

BY:Lindsay Cuomo

Born in Bethany, Jerry “Randy” Laffoon moved to Norman during his teenage years and graduated from Norman High School in 1978. After moving several times before, he wasn’t too keen to uproot yet again.

“He was on the baseball team at school in Putnam City and he didn’t want to move,” Kay Laffoon, Randy’s mom, said. “We found a home in Brookhaven and when he found out he could see the football stadium from his bedroom window he changed his mind. OU athletics was always important to Randy.”

Norman quickly became Randy’s home, the community where he would meet his wife, raise a family, cultivate many businesses and help to shape as a civic leader.

With his recent passing, we look back on the legacy and many facets of his life as a family man, businessman and devoted community leader.

THE FAMILY MAN

Despite being new in town, his commitment to the Norman community quickly took hold as he volunteered as a youth baseball coach at age 17.

“Baseball was his love,” Debbie said, his wife of 29 years. “He coached baseball for years even before he had kids. His passion was for the kids and for other people. He loved to cookout for the teams, for any reason to have a gathering.”

He continued to coach while attending the University of Oklahoma to study finance.

“He had future lawyers, doctors, businessmen on his teams. Years later, those kids would see him around town and share the important moments in their lives,” Kay said. “That experience was so positive and important to them.”

He poured that passion for others into their two sons, Debbie said, always attending whatever sport or activity his sons, Trevor or Trent, chose to participate in, and often into their teammates and friends.

“He was always there and was super supportive no matter what,” Trevor Laffoon recalled of his dad’s commitment to family. “He supported us financially, emotionally and was physically there, in literally everything we did. He didn’t miss a game while I was in college; a couple of times he was the only fan we had in the stands.”

Trent Laffoon said that selflessness was just in his dad’s nature, even as he battled cancer.

“With his cancer, as it got worse especially in the last couple of months, he had to go in for a high-risk surgery and there was a chance he wasn’t going to make it,” he shared. “My dad was so worried that he hadn’t done enough for my brother and I. It could have been the end for him and he was worried about us. That was how he was with everyone, not just us.”

Toby Rowland, SportsTalk morning show host and Voice of the Sooners, shared Trent’s sentiments.

“He called me a couple days before he passed,” Rowland shared. “He was asking me about all the stuff in my life to make sure that everything was in a good place. He was making sure I was okay, that my family was okay. Even in his dying moment, he cared about everyone else.”

As his sons’ interest in the sport of soccer grew, Randy volunteered with the Norman Youth Soccer Association and became known around town as “the soccer guy,” supporting young athletes “whether it was in a soccer role or not,” Trevor shared.

“My dad had a lot on his plate but he always made the time,” Trent remembered. “He was our team manager for years and he was in charge of out of state tournaments. He would bring multiple kids in his car. He always made sure everyone could be there.”

When it came time to make the transition into college athletics, Randy continued to support the young men on those teams.

“Some of my teammates didn’t have much family backing and my dad was the family contact for them. If they weren’t showing up for class or something, the colleges weren’t calling their parents, they were calling my dad,” Trevor said.

Randy welcomed many into his family whether they were related or not.

“I met Randy about 18 years ago when I coached his oldest son Trevor,” long time family friend Don Rother said.

“I was the coach and he was the manager of the team. He made the whole experience so amazing for everyone, the kids and the parents, he made sure everyone was a part of it.”

“He was like family,” Rother added. “We spent the holidays together. (Randy and Debbie) were the godparents to our kids. He was my mentor and always the person I would call on when I needed something.”

Mark and Jen Austin, family friends of more than two decades, echoed Rother’s sentiments.

“Randy was always our family’s go-to person and we’d tell our kids if they ever needed anything to call Mr. Randy,” Jen remembered. “You knew you could count on him.”

“Some said he was a collector of people and he really was,” Debbie confirmed.

THE BUSINESSMAN

Business and family were linked for the Laffoons. Randy and Debbie met while working at a family business. Fresh out of college with a bachelor’s in Business Administration, Randy managed The Desk Set, an office furniture and supply store, for eight years.

The business expanded into three locations, two in Norman and one in north Oklahoma City.

“His mom hired me to work at The Desk Set, part of it is Copelin’s now,” Debbie said. “His mom said ‘Don’t date the help,’ but he married me and I think it worked out.”

Randy would go on to open two Norman Cellular and three Metro Cellular stores. With the help of his father and brother Todd, he pioneered the cellular telephone industry in the metro through the 1990s as one of the first mobile phone retailers in the area.

“He opened Norman Cellular and it was perfect for him,” Debbie said. “He loved talking so it was fitting he was the phone guy.”

Debbie teased that she was actually the first in the family to have a cellular phone.

“It was one of those bag phones but I had the first cell phone,” she joked.

It was perhaps in this role in the phone industry that best fit his reputation for reliability.

“People would call him all hours of the night but he always answered,” Debbie said. “Sometimes it drove me crazy but they always knew they could call Randy if anything ever happened.”

Always on the lookout for the next challenge or opportunity, depending on how you look at it, Randy ventured into radio. He purchased the Norman-based KREF SportsTalk1400 station in 2009, a decision Debbie said she questioned at first.

“I thought he was crazy,” she admitted. “SportsTalk didn’t even have air conditioning at the time. I thought he had lost his mind but he had a vision.”

After more than a decade at the helm, the media group has grown adding Boyd Street magazine, Norman oldest community print magazine, and a new publication, 19th Street magazine.

“He absolutely turned the station around,” Rowland said. “We were not headed in a good direction. He invested a lot of capital to renovate the station both on-air and in the building. The station has a great history in Norman. He shined it up again and made it into something to be proud of.”

The Laffoon family has also collaborated in opening and operating Occasions Fine Stationery, Gifts and Gourmet, Atlas Safe Rooms and Youth Performance, a youth physical training program.

“All of his business endeavors played into each other but they all played into his community involvement and let him get to know so many people,” Trent said.

THE COMMUNITY SERVANT

Community service came naturally to Randy as was evident in his years as a youth sports coach. As the years went on his influence grew. Randy served on a number of community boards and had an immense impact on the city of Norman.

He served as the chairperson for the United Way annual campaign four times and was the only person to ever serve two terms as the chairman for Norman Regional Health Foundation. Additionally, Randy served on boards, committees and in leadership roles for the Norman Chamber of Commerce, Norman Public Schools Foundation and Oklahoma Celtic.

“You knew anything he put his mind to would be successful because he put his heart and soul into,” Rother shared. “He worked hard to make this town a great place for his boys to grow up in and we all benefited from that.”

But these are not accolades you would have heard Randy talk much about.

“He never thought he did enough,” Debbie said. “He wanted to take everyone else with him. Let’s set this goal and do it. Never I, always we, that’s why people liked to join him.”

“I volunteered for the Norman Public School Foundation because he made it sound great,” Jen said. “He just spread it around. You got ‘Laffooned’ every other day and you liked it.”

Randy was awarded the Kathey Hopper Drummond Community Service Award this year, an honor the United Way bestows on “a person who has demonstrated leadership, compassion and dedication to making our community a better place.”

“Randy is a best friend to the Norman community, serving with integrity, graciously with a can-do spirit,” Kathey Drummond said. “He knew the community so well and moved in a lot of circles. Each one was as important as the other, whether it was giving bicycles to a child for perfect attendance or chairing a major capital campaign.”

“When he realized he got the Kathey Drummond award, he was not happy. It was so sweet but he did not want to get up there,” Debbie confessed. “I just loved the man that he was. He just cared so much.”

In his work with the Norman Regional Health Foundation, Randy led the efforts to raise $3 million for the Highway to Health campaign that funded the construction of the Norman Regional Healthplex. He then helped raise an additional $2 million for renovation work at other health and medical rehabilitation facilities, an effort that garnered him recognition from the Oklahoma Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as an Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser.

“Randy had a gift to connect with people. He always wanted to know how things were going, what was needed to move forward and how he could help,” said Erin Barnhart, executive director of the foundation. “He was the go-to person for a new project or just advice. Randy didn’t shy away from raising funds or sharing why he believed in a mission or project. The end result is a better Norman community thanks to his leadership.”

From Debbie’s perspective, Randy’s philosophy was simple.

“If you strive to do the right thing and work hard, good things will come,” she said. “He left this world too soon in my opinion but we have had a wonderful life filled with so much good. And that’s what he has left. The blessings that God gave him overflowed into our lives.”– BSM